Refrigerator



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REFRIGERATOR. I

Application filed October is, 1926. Serial No. 142,405.

This invention relates generally to refrigerators, and, more particularly, to a certain new and useful improvement in refrigerators of the so-called contents-displaying type.

Refrigerators of the type stated usually comprise in their construction two or more sheets or panes of glass dlsposed in spaced parallel relation, which not only provide an air-space for insulating 1purposes, but. also form awindow through w ich the contents of the refrigerator may beviewed. The air in the space between the glasssslieets normally usually contains moisture to such an entent that, as the tem erature within the refr gerator is lowere the moisture-laden a1r 1s cooled below the saturation point, when condensation of the contained moistureoccurs, with the result that-the product of condensation ohjectionably collects on the glass and impairsand obscures the transparency of the window.

My present invention has hence for its chief object the provision of means in con-- nection with the refrigerator for obviating such condensation with the objectionable result thereof by efi ecting in a simple, inexpensive, and eiiicient manner the removal of su'ficient of the moisture-content of the air within the refri orator-window.

And with sue object in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination, of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

in the accompanying drawing,-

Figure .1 illustrates in perspective a refrigerator of so-called content-displaying type equi ped with window-air treating apparatus oimy invention; and

Figure Qillustrates the refrigerator window in section, with the air-treating apparatus of my invention in side elevation.

Referring now more in detail and by reference characters to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of and manner of practicing my invention, A designates a refrlgerator of any standard so-called contents-displaying type having a window B- constructed of sheets or panes of glass 1, 1,

disposed in parallel relation with an airspace, as at 2, therebetween.

Normally the air within the space 2 is more or less-moisture-laden, with the result that, as the temperature within the body of the refrigerator A is lowered, the air in the space 2 is cooled below the saturation point.

when condensation occurs and vision through the window B is obscured by settling of the product of condensation upon the glass sheets 1. To obviate this objectionable result and maintain the transparency of the refrigerator window B at a high state of efiiciency, the op osite walls 3, 4 of the refrigerator B at the space 2 are provided with suitable openings, and disposed tightly in theopening of wall 3, is the inlet-end 5 of a pipe or conduit 6 and in the o ening' in wall 4 1s the outlet or dischargeen 7 of a second pipe or conduit 8. The one pipe 6 communicates at its other or discharge-end with the inlet-opening of a moisture-removing or treating apparatus or receptacle 9, while the pipe 8 communicates at its inlet-end with the outlet or discharge end of a suitable air or suction-pump on exhauster 10, the inlet of the pump 10 having communication with the discharge-opening of the receptacle 9 by means of a connecting-pipe 11.

The receptacle or apparatus 9 may be of a type to chill moisture-laden air to a low temperature and client removal of the contained moisture by condensation. Preferably however, the apparatus or receptable 9 is of a construction to effect chemicall the treatment of the air drawn or sucked t erethrough and, to such end, is suitably provided with a replaceable or renewable chemical, such, for instance, as calcium chloride, having an ailinity for moisture. The several pipes 6, 8, and 11, and the interposed apparatus or receptacle 9 and the pump 10 thus forma continuous system by which the moisture-laden air contained within the space 2 may be drawn therefrom and replaced as comparatively dry, the moisture, content of the air being, as the air is drawn through the apparatus 9, extracted substantially wholly or reduced to such a point that the and 7 may be separated from, and from" time to time connected as conditions may require with, the refrigerator, the p1 eopenings in the refrigerator-walls 3 and 4 eing in the meantime closed, and that changes in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the refrigerator and its window air-treating a paratus may be made and-substituted for t ose herein shown and described without de arting from the nature and principle 0 my invention,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a refrigerator having a Window comprisin spaced transparent sections, the air in sai space having normally a moisture-content, of means for effecting reduction of the normal moisturecontent of the air in said space to obviate condensation thereof and the obscuring thereby of vision through said window on the temperatureof the refrigerator being lowered, said means including a pump, a

conduit stem leading to and from the pump an having its mlet and discharge ends in communication with said space, and a moisture-removing apparatus interposed in said system.

2. In combination with a refrigerator having a window comprising spaced transparent sections, the air in said space having normally a moisture-content, of means for effecting mechanically and chemically a reduction of the normal moisture-content of the air in said space to obviate condensation thereof and the obscuring thereby of vision through said window on the temperature of the refrigerator being lowered, said means including a pump, a conduit system leading to and from the pump and having its inlet and discharge ends in communication with said space, and a receptacle containing an air-treating chemical interposed in the conduit system.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification,

ROBERT J. COUGHLIN. 

